at the root of the teeth- an investigation of the healing power o
TRANSCRIPT
-
8/16/2019 At the Root of the Teeth- An Investigation of the Healing Power o
1/77
McMaster University
DigitalCommons@McMaster
Open Access Dissertations and eses Open Dissertations and eses
1-1-2007
At the Root of the Teeth: An Investigation of theHealing Power of Interpersonal and Familial
Relationships in Zadie Smith's White Teeth Amanda M. Watkins
Follow this and additional works at: hp://digitalcommons.mcmaster.ca/opendissertations
Part of the English Language and Literature Commons , and the Other Languages, Societies, andCultures Commons
is esis is brought to you for free and open access by the Open Disser tations and eses at DigitalCommons@McMaster. It has been accepted for
inclusion in Open Access Dissertations and eses by an authorized administrator of DigitalCommons@McMaster. For more information, please
contact [email protected].
Recommended Citation Watkins, Amanda M., "At the Root of the Teeth: An Investigation of the Healing Power of Interpersonal and Familial Relationships inZadie Smith's White Teeth" (2007). Open Access Dissertations and Teses. Paper 4352.
http://digitalcommons.mcmaster.ca/?utm_source=digitalcommons.mcmaster.ca%2Fopendissertations%2F4352&utm_medium=PDF&utm_campaign=PDFCoverPageshttp://digitalcommons.mcmaster.ca/opendissertations?utm_source=digitalcommons.mcmaster.ca%2Fopendissertations%2F4352&utm_medium=PDF&utm_campaign=PDFCoverPageshttp://digitalcommons.mcmaster.ca/open_diss?utm_source=digitalcommons.mcmaster.ca%2Fopendissertations%2F4352&utm_medium=PDF&utm_campaign=PDFCoverPageshttp://digitalcommons.mcmaster.ca/opendissertations?utm_source=digitalcommons.mcmaster.ca%2Fopendissertations%2F4352&utm_medium=PDF&utm_campaign=PDFCoverPageshttp://network.bepress.com/hgg/discipline/455?utm_source=digitalcommons.mcmaster.ca%2Fopendissertations%2F4352&utm_medium=PDF&utm_campaign=PDFCoverPageshttp://network.bepress.com/hgg/discipline/475?utm_source=digitalcommons.mcmaster.ca%2Fopendissertations%2F4352&utm_medium=PDF&utm_campaign=PDFCoverPageshttp://network.bepress.com/hgg/discipline/475?utm_source=digitalcommons.mcmaster.ca%2Fopendissertations%2F4352&utm_medium=PDF&utm_campaign=PDFCoverPagesmailto:[email protected]:[email protected]://network.bepress.com/hgg/discipline/475?utm_source=digitalcommons.mcmaster.ca%2Fopendissertations%2F4352&utm_medium=PDF&utm_campaign=PDFCoverPageshttp://network.bepress.com/hgg/discipline/475?utm_source=digitalcommons.mcmaster.ca%2Fopendissertations%2F4352&utm_medium=PDF&utm_campaign=PDFCoverPageshttp://network.bepress.com/hgg/discipline/455?utm_source=digitalcommons.mcmaster.ca%2Fopendissertations%2F4352&utm_medium=PDF&utm_campaign=PDFCoverPageshttp://digitalcommons.mcmaster.ca/opendissertations?utm_source=digitalcommons.mcmaster.ca%2Fopendissertations%2F4352&utm_medium=PDF&utm_campaign=PDFCoverPageshttp://digitalcommons.mcmaster.ca/open_diss?utm_source=digitalcommons.mcmaster.ca%2Fopendissertations%2F4352&utm_medium=PDF&utm_campaign=PDFCoverPageshttp://digitalcommons.mcmaster.ca/opendissertations?utm_source=digitalcommons.mcmaster.ca%2Fopendissertations%2F4352&utm_medium=PDF&utm_campaign=PDFCoverPageshttp://digitalcommons.mcmaster.ca/?utm_source=digitalcommons.mcmaster.ca%2Fopendissertations%2F4352&utm_medium=PDF&utm_campaign=PDFCoverPages
-
8/16/2019 At the Root of the Teeth- An Investigation of the Healing Power o
2/77
T THE ROOT OF THE TEETH CONSIDER TION OFW IT T T
-
8/16/2019 At the Root of the Teeth- An Investigation of the Healing Power o
3/77
AT THE ROOT OF THE TEETH: AN INVESTIGATION OF THE HEALING
POWER OF INTERPERSONAL AND FAMILIAL RELATIONSHIPS IN
ZADIESMITH S W IT T T
By
AMANDAM. WATKINS B.A
A Thesis
Submitted to the School
of
Graduate Studies
In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements
for the Degree
Master of Arts
McMaster University
© Copyright
by
Amanda M Watkins August 2007
-
8/16/2019 At the Root of the Teeth- An Investigation of the Healing Power o
4/77
MASTER OF ARTS 2007)
English and Cultural Studies)
McMaster University
Hamilton,
ON
t the Root of the Teeth: n Investigation of the Healing Power of
Interpersonal and Familial Relationships in Zadie Smith s hite
eeth
AUTHOR: A ma nd a M. Watkins, B.A. University of Waterloo)
SUPERVISOR: Dr. Helene Strauss
NUMBER
O
PAGES: vi, 67
ii
-
8/16/2019 At the Root of the Teeth- An Investigation of the Healing Power o
5/77
ABSTRACT:
This thesis considers how Zadie Smith s novel
hite eeth
contributes to
contemporary debates on immigration race gender and identity. The focus is on
Smith s character Irie Jones and how her feelings
o
instability and displacement
are negotiated in post-war Britain. Essentially this thesis considers the characters
inabilities to feel a sense o belonging
n
their lives
s
a result
o
the political and
cultural climate in England during the late 20th century. The characters struggles
are explained and dissected in three chapters. The first chapter s devoted to the
role that diaspora and travel theory play in a desire to belong; chapter two
investigates the second-generation immigrant children s familial relationships and
the conflict between the generations; and chapter three focuses
on
how gender and
femininity function in regards to Irie s difficulties. This thesis investigates the
ways that Irie diverges from her matrilineal heritage and negotiates for herself a
place that she can call home in contemporary Britain.
iii
-
8/16/2019 At the Root of the Teeth- An Investigation of the Healing Power o
6/77
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
I would like to express my gratitude to all those who helped me through
this challenging process. First I want to thank
my
supervisor Helene Strauss for
her guidance and friendship throughout this past year. it were not for her warm
and generous nature and her patience and expertise this thesis would not be what
it
s
today. I would also like to thank my parents for their unconditional love and
support; I consider myself truly blessed to belong to such a loving family. My
siblings have been amazingly supportive and helpful this past year: Jill Nick
Katie Laura and Elizabeth I love you all very much and needed each one of you
in all your different and beautiful ways this year to keep me focused thank you.
And
s
always I want to thank Russell for being the light of
my
life and for his
ability to always put a huge smile on my face. This thesis would not have been
completed on time or in good condition if it were not for my diligent unofficial
first reader: thank you for your words of encouragement and late night editing
sessions I will never forget your support through this time in my life. Finally
thank you to
my
constant companion and great love Layla. Having you in my
life this year grounded me and allowed
m
to consider what
s
truly important to
me. I look forward to many years of long walks happy homecomings and trips
to the park with you y my side.
IV
-
8/16/2019 At the Root of the Teeth- An Investigation of the Healing Power o
7/77
TABLEOF CONTENTS
Title Page
1
Descriptive Note ii
Abstract iii
Acknowledgements iv
Table of Contents v
Introduction 1
CHAPTER ONE 6
Negotiating Identity, Diaspora, Memory and Belonging in
Zadie Smith s White eeth
1.2 Merging Identities: The Case of the Abdul-Mickeys 8
3 Irie Jones: Memory, Inbetweenness, and the Search for
Belonging 9
1.4 A Stranger in a Strange Land : Irie s Discomfort in her Body
and her Country
1.5 Physical Separations and Emotional Connections: The Case of
Millat and Magid Iqbal
7
1.6 The Search for Neutrality in the Reunion ofMagid and Millat
1.7 Looking Forward: New Life, Old Connections and Remembered
Pasts 25
CHAPER TWO 27
2
Intergenerational Conflict and Belonging: First- versus Second-
Generation Immigrants 27
2.2 The Plight of the Second-Generation Immigrant to Britain 27
2.3 Hybridity and the Third Space: Irie s Contested Place in British
Society 28
2.4 Black British Youth 30
2.5 British Hostility and Irie Jones s Troubled State-of-Mind 3
2.6 Archie, Clara and Irie: Negotiating the Dynamics of a Culturally-
Mixed Family
33
2.7 Alienation and Longing for Home: Alsana and Millat s
Disconnect 36
2.8 Alsana Versus Joyce Chalfen: India Confronts England 40
2.9 The Immigrant Experience and a Desire for Normalcy 4
CHAPTER THREE 43
3.1 Memory and Femininity: The BowdenWomen s Connections 43
3.2 Race, Gender, and Irie s Familial Roots 44
3.3 Gendering Memory 44
3.4 Identity Formation and the Composition of NalTative 46
3.5 Ambrosia, HOltense and Clara Bowden: A History of
Marginalization 47
3.6 Rejecting her Roots:
hi s
Relationship with Millat 55
v
-
8/16/2019 At the Root of the Teeth- An Investigation of the Healing Power o
8/77
3 7 Breaking the Cycle: Irie Looks to the Future
Conclusion
Bibliography
vi
6
65
-
8/16/2019 At the Root of the Teeth- An Investigation of the Healing Power o
9/77
-
8/16/2019 At the Root of the Teeth- An Investigation of the Healing Power o
10/77
M.A Thesis - A Watkins McMaster - English and Cultural Studies
ntrodu tion
This thesis offers a critical reading o Zadie Smith s hite eethby asking
what specific contributions this text makes to discourses
o
memory race
nation and gender. hite eeth is a novel primarily about second generation
immigrants to Britain; dense with the hybridity
o
post-war London the text uses
multiple tones textures and voices to question the many tensions and conflicts
that plague its characters. Smith s first novel tackles multiethnic multiracial and
transnational issues; she likely feels close to these themes
s
the daughter o a
white English father and a black Jamaican mother. The focus o my thesis is o
how Smith s characters negotiate the psychological need to belong. This
negotiation is complicated in Smith s text by the characters feelings o alienation
that result from their position s immigrants or products o interracial marriages.
Smith s character Irie Jones will be given particular attention in this thesis.
The varied paths traveled by Smith s characters are full o complexities
and uncertainties and thus invite interpretations on a multitude o levels. hite
eethtells the story o the intermingled lives o three families living in the late
twentieth century in North-West London England. The Jones Iqbal and Chalfen
families become entwined over the course
o
the text which chronicles the
characters struggles with their various statuses in British society. Irie s difficult
coming-of-age in the text is representative o the plight o many first- and second
generation immigrants in the politically charged environment in England during
this time period. Namely Irie does not feel as though she belongs anywhere; she
feels alienated by white British society and she feels incomplete in her home life
which is riddled with conflict and secrecy.
My work on hite eethadds to the body
o work on this text by
examining it in the form
o
a close reading o the characters psychological states.
The relationships developed between the characters are an essential part o this
thesis grounding and thus the text
s
read and examined through the lens
o
the
healing properties o healthy relationships. These relationships are complex and
loaded with historical baggage and are essentially at the root o the characters
main struggles. Ultimately this thesis examines the interpersonal workings o
Smith s nuanced characters and hopes to provide through a readable and readily
accessible analysis an emphasis on the benefits o healthy functioning
relationships on the lives
o
even the most troubled personalities.
My thesis critically examines the text in three chapters. The aim o each
chapter
s
to negotiate Irie s physical and psychological discomfort in a country
that
s
decidedly hostile to its immigrant population. Indeed the social and
political environment in England during the time period in which this novel
s
set
s
rife with racism sexism and discrimination. England s complicated
relationships with its colonies experienced a geographical shift when England
passed the 1948 Nationality Act that allowed citizens o the British Empire to
travel freely across its colonies. As a result
o
this Act England received an
-
8/16/2019 At the Root of the Teeth- An Investigation of the Healing Power o
11/77
M.A Thesis - A Watkins McMaster - English and Cultural Studies
influx of immigrants, and the social environment of the country was pelmanently
altered. The relationship between England and its Indian and Jamaican colonies
s
symbolically represented in the text through the intermingled lives
of
the three
main families in White eeth the Chalfens, Iqbals and Joneses. Moreover, the
tense environment in England
s
the basis
of
much of the characters feelings of
displacement and inbetweenness (that of Irie Jones in particular). While Smith
details the trials of each character and his or her specific stmggles in England, she
focuses on a common thread that eventually helps her characters achieve a sense
of
belonging. This connecting thread is the importance
of
relationships. As such,
this thesis examines the importance that various types
of
relationships have on the
characters desires to belong and to feel loved.
Smith provides her readers with a loaded metaphor from which to unpack
her characters needs for an understanding
of
their place in society and their
personal relationships. The metaphor describes the Bowden women in terms
of
a
set of traditional Russian dolls. Smith writes: ... if this story
s
to be told, we
will have to put them all back inside each other like Russian dolls, Irie back in
Clara, Clara back in HOltense, Hortense back in Ambrosia (356).
This metaphor
s
essential to this thesis reading
of White eeth
because it reveals
how relationships, family, and the past inform the characters present.
Interestingly, the dolls are traditionally understood to represent a family; the
Russian word for these dolls is matryoshka, the word matry comes from the
Latin root mater which means mother. In the context of White eeth the
Bowden family women make up the dolls, with Irie, located in the center
of
the
family, having to fit into each doll in order for the whole family to fit together.
Thus, Irie is read
s
a composite
of
her matrilineal heritage, and her ability to feel
a sense
of
belonging in England is intricately bound up with her acceptance in her
family. Smith sends h ie on joumey through her family s past in an effort to
equip Irie with an understanding of where she comes from so that she can
psychologically locate herself in her present. In fact, each chapter in this thesis is
informed by this metaphor and uses it as a controlling devise through which to
read the characters varied experiences.
Chapter
Negotiating Identity Diaspora Memory and Belonging in Zadie
Smith s
White eeth
The ways in which Irie s past informs her present are discussed in chapter
one through a consideration of the workings of memory in identity formation.
This chapter is interested in the importance
of
memory in Irie s negotiation of her
past. Indeed the Russian doll metaphor requires that each doll fit comfortably into
the other dolls, and thus Irie must attain knowledge of her matrilineal past in an
effort to exist comfortably in her own present. Chapter one
s
also concemed with
the diasporic experiences of the characters in White eeth and the ways that these
travel histories affect the status
of
Irie slife. Irie s life
s
undoubtedly affected
y
her mother and grandmother who are both immigrants to England from Jamaica
-
8/16/2019 At the Root of the Teeth- An Investigation of the Healing Power o
12/77
M.A Thesis - Watkins McMaster - English and Cultural Studies
and traveled to England in an effort to secure a more prosperous life for
themselves and their offspring. John Clement Ball s reading
of
White Teeth in his
text Imagining London supports the notion that knowledge of the travel history of
Irie s family
s
essential in h ie s consideration of her place in British society,
Indeed, Ball asserts that the characters in White Teeth exist both in the present (as
the characters are intimately connected to each other s lives) and in the past
(where the characters share memories of past experiences or learned histories)
(Ball 239). The characters placement in the past is precarious and thus this
chapter turns to Maurice Halbwachs, who studies the collective memories of
society and how they are essential in an understanding
of
the present.
Halbwachs s work on collective memory in On Collective Memory
s
drawn on in
an effort to work through h ie s struggles; his text contributes
to
an understanding
of the workings of memory, since he writes that the greatest number of memories
come back to us when our parents, our friends, or other persons recall them to us
(38), With Halbwachs s work in mind, chapter one considers how Irie is
cOllilected to her family and how knowledge of her family s past will aid her in
her search for a sense of belonging in white-British culture,
Chapter
Intergenerational Conflict and Belonging First versus Second-
Generation Immigrants
In chapter two Irie s feelings of displacement are impacted by the conflict
she encounters in her immediate family. Irie s dysfunctional relationships with
her mother and father are somewhat representative of the relationships between
the women in each generation of the Bowden family. Thus the metaphor of the
Russian dolls speaks to the intergenerational conflict in Irie s life that keeps her
from attaining a workable identity. In order for h ie to fit comfOltably into her
matrilineal past she must work through the conflict that has plagued her family so
that she might feel at ease in her present and ensure that future generations be
spared of this same problem. The conflict between the generations in Irie s
relationship with her parents has to do with her status
s
a second-generation
immigrant versus her mother s status
s
a first-generation immigrant. Chapter
two draws on the work
of
Molly Thompson who critically analyses White Teeth s
multicultural nuances in her article Happy Multicultural Land ?: The
Implications of an excess of belonging in Zadie Smith s White Teeth.
Thompson notes that the plight of second-generation immigrants is significantly
different from that
of
first-generation immigrants,
s
they have arguably had to
navigate a more problematic relationship with their racial identities, often having
to straddle two different, conflicting cultures (122). Adding to Irie s
problematic relationship
s
a second-generation immigrant
s
the social
environment in England during the latter part of the twentieth century for black
youth. Thus chapter two also delves into the political climate in London for black
youth at this time and considers how societal pressures affect Irie s relationship
3
-
8/16/2019 At the Root of the Teeth- An Investigation of the Healing Power o
13/77
M.A Thesis - Watkins McMaster - English and Cultural Studies
with her parents. In Black Youth Crisis authors Emest Cashmore and Barry
Troyna discuss how the racism experienced y
first-generation immigrants to
Britain is largely responsible for the unease felt y black British youth in the
1980s and 1990s. Evidently, at the hemt
of
much
ofth
crisis
of
black youth at
this time was a feeling of disengagement (15). The state
of
Irie s cultural
environment is a crucial element in a reading
of
her conflicted relationship with
her parents, given that she attempts to negotiate her place
in
both her society and
her family throughout the text.
Chapter
Memory and Femininity The Bowden Women s Connections
Perhaps Smith s metaphor
of
the Russian dolls is most aptly applied in
chapter three, which specifically considers the impact
of
gender on the formation
of
Irie s identity. Naturally, this chapter is also interested in how Irie s
matrilineal line impacts her status and in tum how her sense
of
self is shaped y
her family s history specifically in regards to their gender. It is important to
note here that this particular chapter engages with terms such as race and
gender. These
tel S are placed here in invelted commas in an effort to signal
that this thesis acknowledges that both race and gender are socially
constlUcted categories. Indeed these terms are used in lieu
of
an acceptable
altemative and in recognition
of
the fact that there exists a lack
of
vocabulary to
responsibly refer to these concepts. In the introduction to Under Construction:
Race and Identity in South Africa Today editors Natasha Distiller and Melissa
Steyn discuss the complexities inherent in the terms race and gender. Even
thoughDistiller and Steyn specifically address South African understandings
of
race, their insights can flUitfully be extended to a reading
of
race as
represented in Smith s White Teeth Importantly, Distiller and Steyn note the
ways that race is essentially performative, and indeed this chapter engages with
the concept of race under these same notions. Distiller and Steyn note that,
[r]ace is given meaning y the political economy in which it is located. It
needs props, a social and economic script, and co-actors, before it can assume its
commonsensical proportions. In addition, it is most obviously registered visually,
which implicates an audience in the meaning of the social stage on which race is
performed (4). For the remainder
of
this thesis the terms race and gender will
used without inverted commas, but with the acknowledgment that they are
understood as contested terms.
Chapter three s consideration
of
the links between the women in White
Teeth is read alongside Mariamle Hirsch and Valerie Smith s work in their article
Feminism and Cultural Memory:
Introduction. Hirsch and Smith s research
is analyzed alongside this chapter s investigation
of
the links between memory
and femininity that are made between the Bowden women. Hirsch and Smith
assert that [w]hat a culture remembers and what it chooses to forget are
intricately bound up with issues
of
power and hegemony, and thus with gender
(6). The intricacies
of
the relationships between the Bowden family women are
4
-
8/16/2019 At the Root of the Teeth- An Investigation of the Healing Power o
14/77
M A
Thesis - A. Watkins McMaster - English and Cultural Studies
examined in this chapter and are read through the lens
of
Smith s Russian doll
metaphor, which is a reminder
of how
these women must fit back into each
other s lives and, symbolically, their bodies) in order for them to comfortably co
exist in their relationships with each other and in their respective societies.
Each of the chapters in this thesis are linked through the
way
in which
they are read with Smith s Russian doll metaphor. As such, the working
of
memory, intergenerational conflict, gender, race, and identity are contested and
dissected for their contribution to the complex relationships under consideration
in this thesis. Irie Jones s struggle throughout the text is symbolic of the struggles
of many second-generation immigrant youth in England,
well of the plight
of
England s colonies to achieve stability independent
of
colonial power. This
thesis and, arguably,
Smith s
text) seeks to explain and navigate the lives
of
White eeth s
complex characters and, importantly, look towards the future with
the hope that the work done today will alleviate these same burdens for tomorrow.
5
-
8/16/2019 At the Root of the Teeth- An Investigation of the Healing Power o
15/77
M A
Thesis - A. Watkins McMaster - English and Cultural Studies
Chapter One
Negotiating Identity Diaspora Memory and Belonging in Zadie Smith s
hite eeth
Zadie
Smith s
White Teeth tackles the complexities
of
the lives of
immigrants to Britain
1
who struggle with their immigrant status, family lives, and
gender roles in English society. As is common with many (post) post-colonial
(Ball 238) texts, the negotiation
of
identity is thematically central to the depth
of
the characters.
Smith s
text provides its reader with a metaphor through which to
read
her
characters varied identifications. Smith explains her characters layered
experiences (specifically, in this quote, Irie,
he r
mother Clara, Clara s mother
Hortense, and Hortense s mother Ambrosia)
when
she writes: for
ifthis
story
is to be
told,
we
will have to
pu t
them all back inside each other like Russian
dolls, Irie
back
in Clara, Clara
back
in Hortense, HOltense back in Ambrosia
(356). Central to this metaphor is the concept
of
memory; this chapter focuses
on
how
memory functions in relation to each character s experiences with
decolonization, and specifically
how
memories have shaped the characters
feelings
of
inbetweenness and marginality. Not unlike White Teeth this chapter
unpacks the varied subjectivities
of Smith s
characters through an analysis
of
their
diasporic experiences, memories, and primarily their familial relationships. In
order to understand the ways in which identities take shape in the text, one must
acknowledge and negotiate the remembered experiences
of
the central characters,
beginning, naturally, with their emigration to England and its contribution to their
wandering personalities.
Th e
diasporic experiences
of White Teeth s
characters are central to the
manner in which they locate a unified identity for themselves. Both first and
second-generation immigrants in the text are influenced
by
either their
own
experiences
of
travel, or diaspora, or their parents . The text s location (London)
therefore becomes a central meeting place of the characters varied travels and
memories. The novel chronicles the lives
of
three interwoven families whose
shared diasporic experiences affect each character s location both psychologically
and literally. The first-generation characters (including Hortense, Clara,
Samad
and Alsana) share literal diasporic experiences since they are all immigrants to
England, while the second-generation characters (namely Irie, Millat and Magid)
share a memory
of
immigration and a diasporia since they are the children
of
immigrants. John Clement
Ball s
analysis
of
White Teeth in his text Imagining
London
places
White Teeth s
traveling characters both in the present (as the
characters are intimately connected to each other s lives) and in the past (where
This thesis
s
concerned with how Smith s characters negotiate the social and political climate in
England. England
s
at times referred to
s
Britain in Smith s text and this thesis, but
importantly, the terms Britain
or
British are meant to represent only the country of England,
and not, for example, the entire United Kingdom.
6
-
8/16/2019 At the Root of the Teeth- An Investigation of the Healing Power o
16/77
M A
Thesis - Watkins McMaster - English and Cultural Studies
the characters share memories of past experiences or learned histories) (239).
Being rooted in both the past and the present causes, undoubtedly, a feeling
of
instability and inbetweenness. Moreover, hite eethimplies that the result
of
migration and diaspora
is
the feeling
of
being between worlds, and the challenge
is
to negotiate that feeling in such
as
way that one s psychological need to belong
is eventually fulfilled through relationships. The emotional links formed through
these relationships sustain Smith s characters and help to define their status as
immigrants (whether first or second generation) in England. This chapter argues
that Smith s characters are in a perpetual state of wandering, and that this state is
negotiated through the relationships formed between the three central families in
the text (the Joneses, the Iqbals, and the Chalfens), who attempt to find stability
through shared histories, memories, and experiences.
Sunetra Gupta, an Indian-born British author whose novels settings are
located transnationally, comments on this state of perpetual wandering as the crux
of the British immigrant experience:
I think one has to be comfortable with the notion that one has one s own
cultural identity and that one doesn t necessarily have to be at home, so
to speak I think we have to accept that we are going to be perpetually
wandering. We are bound to, I think. That s the kind of crisis that w e r e i n
now, that we re forced to be in a state
of
perpetual wandering. I mean we
can t be at home. Even if we sit at home, we are forced to travel,
just
because of what is going on around us. (qtd. in Williams)
The idea
of
not feeling at
home
is echoed
in
James Clifford s work
on
travel
theory. Indeed home implies a sense of belonging, and comfort, and Clifford
believes that, [t]o know who you are means knowing where you are ( Notes on
Travel and Theory ), and therefore the location of home
is
necessarily bound to
a geographical area, bu t more importantly to a frame
of
mind, or a psychological
feeling
of
belonging. The characters in hite eethattempt to find a home
where they feel a sense of belonging. This feeling of knowing where one s home
is depends entirely upon knowing who one is at home with, which is why the
relationships in hite eethare so central to the narrative. The interwoven lives
of the families in hite eethmimic the complicated status of their Britishness.
This confused status of Britishness is essentially the focus of Smith s text. The
characters are technically British, but they feel wholly out of place in British
society because their familial roots are located elsewhere. This scenario
is
now
common in Britain (as a result of the influx of immigrants in the country) and the
British nation has struggled to define itself outside of its imperial roots. What
Smith is doing then, is mimicking the links between Britain s struggle to define
itself, and its citizens personal struggles to define their statuses. Ball notes this
cOllilection between complex relationships and the complex status of the nation
when
he
states that Smith broadens patterns of sociohistorical involvement
through interpersonal analogies (237). In fact, Smith s characters, specifically
7
-
8/16/2019 At the Root of the Teeth- An Investigation of the Healing Power o
17/77
M A
Thesis - A. Watkins McMaster - English
and
Cultural Studies
her character Abdul-Mickey, at times goes to great lengths to question this link
between the
self
and
th e
nation.
Merging Identities The Case
the Abdul Mickeys
Naturally,
th e
characters
in White Teeth
who desire to belong somewhere
attempt to locate themselves by merging their recognizable identities with each
other in an effort to create emotional links. his text Routes Travel and
Translation in the Late Twentieth entury James Clifford attests that diasporic
experiences cause people to look for ways of sustaining connections with more
than one place while practicing nonabsolutist forms
of
citizenship (9). This
phenomenon is at
work
in
Smith s
text through
th e
character Abdul-Mickey, the
owner
of O Connell s
Pool House, where Archie
and Samad
meet regularly to
complain about their wives and children and to consider important life decisions.
As a respectful gesture to British culture, Abdul-Mickey s family decides to add
an English name to the en d of each child s Arab name. this way, Abdul
Mickey s family finds a wa y to (somewhat comfortably) inhabit their two worlds.
However, they refuse to adhere entirely to British cultural codes. Smith
introduces Abdul-Mickey as follows:
It
was a tradition, both in Mickey s wider and nuclear family, to name all
sons Abdul to teach them the vanity of assuming higher status
than
any
other man, which was all very well and good bu t tended to cause
confusion in the formative years. However, children are creative, and all
th e many Abduls added an English name a kind of buffer to the first.
(186)
Ironically, this gesture to British culture is no t consciously reverent towards
Britain, bu t instead is born out of a need for specificity. this way Abdul
Mickey and his siblings
have not
so much added a British name to their Arab
name, as they have placed a British name as an additional layer to their
individualities. This need for specificity is b or n o ut of a desire to individualize
their identities in such a wa y that they do not lose their Arab status, bu t instead
gain British status. this sense their individuality (how they differentiate
themselves from on e another, and how they make themselves unique) is layered:
it is part Arab, and part British
b oth in n am e
and nationality. This re-naming and
layering of Britishness onto Abdul-Mickey leaves
hi m
resentful
of
British life
and culture.
Despite his tendencies towards appeasing British sentiments, Abdul
Mickey is still disgusted with the influence that he feels British culture has on his
family and on his culture in general.
He
says: Look at
my
littlest, Abdul
Jimmy. Up injuvenile court next week for swiping fucking VW medallions
No sense of tradition, no fucking morality, is the problem We re all English
now, mate. Like it or lump it, the rhubarb said to the custard (192). Abdul
Mickey himself has made a conscious effort to assimilate to British culture by
changing his name to conform to the British customers in his bar; fmthermore,
8
-
8/16/2019 At the Root of the Teeth- An Investigation of the Healing Power o
18/77
M.A
Thesis -
Watkins McMaster - English and Cultural Studies
Abdul-Mickey will not change the name of his bar - which s an Irish surname-
despite the fact that it s neither Irish nor a pool house (183), because
he
fears
losing business ifhe uses an Arab name. Interestingly, the changing of surnames
in order to evoke feelings of belonging to a particular area of the world s neither
uncommon, nor
s
it a contemporary phenomenon. Clifford quotes Amitav Ghosh,
a novelist and anthropologist who, in the course
of
his field work, at one point
observes that you could read the history
of
[restlessness] in the villagers
surnames
.. .
The wanderlust
of
[its] founders had been ploughed into the soil
of
the village: it seemed to me sometimes that every man in it was a traveler (qtd.
in Routes Ghosh 2). Clifford calls this dwelling in travel, which is a good way
to think about how Smith s characters locate themselves; they feel s though they
cannot find stasis, that their
home
s on the move (2).
In Caribbean Passages Richard Patterson echoes these same ideas
when he analyses Caryl Phillips s novel A State Independence Patterson
describes the plight
of
Phillips s protagonist
s
follows: Bertram Francis
experiences the double exile of a man who is not at home in his adopted country
but, because
he
has suppressed his past for two decades, no longer feels welcome
in his place of origin (124). Like Phillips s character Bertram, Abdul-Mickey
and several other White Teeth characters feel tom between two locations and are
forced to wander in the spaces between. For Bertram, this transitional space
s
somewhere between England and the West Indies, and this confusion makes it
difficult for
him
to recognize his own identity. Phillips writes:
I fhe
does not feel
at
home
.. .
here, then here has, in effect, become there. The corrosive
process
of
alienation has eaten away the very ground of his being (128). Paul
Gilroy speaks specifically about this place (which for him, s the AtlanticOcean-
the center of the trans-Atlantic slave trade) in his text The BlackAtlantic Gilroy
asserts that the Atlantic Ocean s an in-between space and that its fluidity (by
virtue of the multitude
of
people and ships that have crossed it)
s
mimicked
by
the diasporic quality
of
black histories. John Clement Ball describes the Black
Atlantic in a similar way, noting that it s the defining location of historically
embedded black identities (14). Although Gliroy studies specifically the Mrican
diaspora and black identity, his theories are useful to this study of varied and at
time competing cultural identities.
eJones Memory Inbetweenness and the Search for Belonging
Irie Jones
s
perhaps one
of
the novel s most confused and lost characters.
As such, she
s
an impOltant case study to analyze in terms
of
her (remembered)
diasporic experience.
Haunting Capital: Memory Text and the Black
Diasporic Body Hershini Bhana Young discusses (re)memory and the idea that
memory [belongs] to both the individual and her communities (86). Young
leans on Toni M011 ison s idea ofre-memories, shedding light on Irie s struggles
to belong, and to locate herself in the present. Young quotes a passage from
Morrison s Beloved that describes the ability to remember that which you did not
9
-
8/16/2019 At the Root of the Teeth- An Investigation of the Healing Power o
19/77
M.AThesis -
A
Watkins McMaster - English and Cultural Studies
personally experience. MOlTison writes: I used to think .. . [s]ome things you
forget. Other things you never do. But it s not
.. .
Someday you
be
walking down
the road and you hear something or see something going on. So clear. And you
think it s you thinking it up
.. . But
no.
It s
when you bump into a rememory that
belongs to someone else (qtd. in Young 85). Morrison s theories about re
memory and encountering old memories relate primarily to the position
of
the
author rather than the experiences
of
the characters, which
is
the focus in Smith s
nove1.
2
While her characters are celtainly informed
by
her theories, her main
emphasis
on
the site
of
re-memory
is
concemed with the author.
an effort to
study the characters experiences of
re-memory in
White Teeth
it
is
helpful to
tu m to the French philosopher and sociologist Maurice Halbwachs, who provides
his own perspective on bumping into old memories, or memories belonging to
others in his text
On Collective Memory
Halbwachs writes that memories are
by
nature social, or collective; thus explaining how one might feel
as
though one
is
experiencing someone else s memory (which is similar to what
Monison
describes above):
.. .
it is in society that people normally acquire their memories. It is also
in society that they recall, recognize, and localize their memories
It is
in this sense that there exists a collective memory and social frameworks
for memory; it
is
to the degree that our individual thought places itself in
these frameworks and participates in this memory that it
is
capable
of
the
act
of
recollection. (38)
Smith s characters, especially Irie, encounter the effect
ofthe
collective
memory
of
society that Halwachs describes. And indeed Smith s metaphor
of
the Russian dolls (that
hie
her mother Clara, Clara s mother HOltense, and
Hortense s mother Ambrosia must fit into each other like Russian dolls in order
for their stories to
be
told) clarifies Irie s need to confront her past. order for
Irie to fully understand and accept her self and her position in society, she must
In The Site of Memory Morrison describes how she fills in the blanks in the lives
of
other
people who have gone before her. Her theory is that memories exist as part of a cultural self
awareness and that when she writes a novel, she taps into the memories that were left out of, for
example, in the case
of
a slave narrative. Morrison describes how, especially in her novel
Beloved she was only knowledgeable of some of the parts of the young woman s life she was
fictionalizing and that she filled in the rest through re-membering this woman s experience.
Morrison describes this process: So if I m looking to find and expose a truth about the interior
life of people who didn t write it (which doesn t mean that they didn t have it);
ifI m
trying to fill
in the blanks that the slave narratives left - to part the veil that was so frequently drawn, to
implement the stories that I heard - then the approach that s most productive and most trustworthy
for me is the recollection that moves from the image to the text. Not from the text to the image
(194). While the focus of this thesis is on characterization in Smith s text, it is interesting to
consider how Smith may have experienced bumping into old memories herself during the
composition of White Teeth Smith s similarity to her character Irie invites this kind of an
interpretation.
10
-
8/16/2019 At the Root of the Teeth- An Investigation of the Healing Power o
20/77
M.A Thesis - Watkins McMaster - English and Cultural Studies
come
to
terms with her collective pmticipation in her family s history. Irie
struggles to place herself among the memories of her past and her family s past,
and also struggles to place her self in her present. The belonging that she desires
is complicated by the
bm iers
of her past that she cannot help but bump into.
Irie s desire to belong is complicated because she is constructed by society
s racially mixed (she is the daughter
of
Archie, a white British man, and Clara, a
black Jamaican immigrant). Her mixed status is difficult to negotiate and is
complicated
y
Irie s family s history of familial umest and migration. For
example, Irie s grandmother Hortense Bowden,
is
estranged from her daughter
Clara (she disapproves of Clara s marriage
to
Archie because Archie is white),
and
is
a constant, living reminder to Irie of her historical roots in Jamaica. This
reminder is a source
of
anxiety for Irie s mother, Clara, who remembers her
grandfather, Captain Charlie Durham, with much distaste, having only heard
stories
of
him from her mother. Clara says: Captain Charlie Durham wasn t
smart. He had thought he was, but he wasn t. He sacrificed a thousand people
because he wanted to save one woman he never really knew. Captain Charlie
Durham was a no-good djam fool bwoy (355). Clara s dislike of her British
grandfather, and Hortense s complicated diasporic experience, among other
factors, contribute to hie s feelings of displacement, or inbetweenness. Irie finds
it difficult
to
locate herself in her family due to the tension between her family
members. This tension is exacerbated when combined with Hortense and Clara s
unexpected and thus unwelcome arrival in Britain. Irie is affected by her
grandmother and mother s issues because of their familial connection which helps
Irie locate herself in her past. Thus the relationships in her life that are so
impOltant to her desire for stability are challenged by her inability to fully
understand her family s past. These factors, explored in more detail throughout
this chapter, make Irie s agency and sense of self difficult to achieve.
A Stranger in a Strange Land 3:
de s
Discomfort in her Body and her
Country
Irie s discomfort with herself is immediately evident when Smith
introduces her. is clem that Irie is uncomfortable in her own skin, and cannot
even locate herself within the country in which she was born. Irie describes her
body shape s belonging to a different culture: .,. (shelf space for books, cups
of
tea, baskets or, more to the point, children, bags of fruit, buckets
of
water), ledges
genetically designed with another country in mind, another climate (226). Smith
mticulates Irie s uneasiness saying: But Irie didn t know she was fine. There
was England, a gigantic mirror, and there was h ie, without reflection. A stranger
in a stranger land (266). Irie s assertion that she
is
without reflection is
indicative of her struggle for a recognizable identity. Clearly Irie desires to be
aware
of
and comfortable with her self in order to feel s though she belongs in
White Teeth 66
-
8/16/2019 At the Root of the Teeth- An Investigation of the Healing Power o
21/77
M.A Thesis -
Watkins McMaster - English and Cultural Studies
her society, and thus able to recognize her own reflection without feeling s
though she is an imposter in her home country. In the above passage, Irie overtly
desires an identity that she is comfortable with; her statement that she
s
without
reflection (266) specifically points to her need to recognize herself and to be
recognized by others in mainstream (white) Britain s a member of society and
not just s an outsider.
is helpful to read Irie s discomfort and feelings
of
displacement through Homi Bhabha s theoretical work on the nation. Bhabha
contends that representations of nation are responsible for the inability to feel at
home in one s native country. This inability to feel at home is felt mostly by
those citizens whose ancestral roots are located outside
of
Britain. In Nation and
Narration
Bhabha cites ambivalence s a central cause for some British citizens
overwhelming feelings
of
displacement. Bhabha articulates his idea
of
ambivalence through an explanation of how the nation
s
in a state
of
transition.
He asserts that the ambivalence of the people who make up a nation emerges
from a growing awareness that, despite the certainty with which historians speak
of the origins of nation s a sign
of
the modernity of society, the cultural
temporality of the nation inscribes a much more transitional social reality
Nation
n
Narration 3). The unceltainty
of
the composition of nation that
Bhabha describes here is similar to hie s feelings of uncertainty in the
composition of her own life. Interestingly, h ie is not, in fact, an immigrant to
Britain, yet she experiences the dualities and ambivalences that are central to
those involved in diaspora.
h ie s uncertainty, and her desire to belong, are evident in her low self
esteem and negative body image. hi e s especially unhappy with her hair, which
she blames on her black genes, and wants [s]traight hair. Straight, straight, long
black sleek flickable tossable shakeable touchable finger-through-able wind
blowable hair (273). h ie s experience of attempting to straighten her hair is
psychologically draining, and sheds light on her deep-seated discomfOlt with
herself and her inability to inhabit her body more comfortably. de s desire to
change not only her hair, but also how she is perceived by others, is evident in her
description
of what changing her hair means, She says that she is intent upon
transformation, intent upon fighting her genes (273). Smith uses hie s hair
struggles as a metaphor to explain what h ie wants ( normalcy ) and what she
struggles against (her physical appearance): [At P.K s hair salon] the impossible
desire for straightness and movement fought daily with the stubborn
determination
of
the curved African follicle (275).
hie s
desire for straight
(read: white) hair causes her to resent her African follicle; her struggle to
belong s at the root of her hair problems, and not unlike white British society, she
fears the other (her own hair) and desires what she believes s a more widely
accepted version of beauty (straight hair). Irie s discomfort with her hair echoes
her discomfort with her place in Britain - feeling as though she
s
a stranger in a
strange land (266) - and her lack of a recognizable identity, which for Irie means
a perception
of
herself that is comparable to those around her. This perception is
12
-
8/16/2019 At the Root of the Teeth- An Investigation of the Healing Power o
22/77
M.A
Thesis -
Watkins McMaster - English and Cultural Studies
undoubtedly based on the oppressive definitions of normality that Irie encounters.
Irie s subjective choices are limited to British codes
of
beauty that elevate the
Caucasian form and colour above all others. These notions of beauty are
especially disturbing in a country such
as
England that has a remarkably high
immigrant population. Simply put, Irie desires to
be
what she considers normal,
and to look similar to other female members of her society.
In order to understand h ie s confused state
as
a young woman, it
is
helpful
to examine her past as it sheds light on her feelings of instability and her belief
that she does not belong in English society. Smith details the story
of
Ide s
grandmother and mother s arrival in England beginning with the departure
of
Darcus Bowden, Ide s grandfather. Darcus Bowden left Jamaica for England
without his family in order to make enough money to send for his wife and
daughter. But, after waiting for fourteen years for Darcus to send for them,
Hortense and Clara decide to make their own way to England; Smith explains that
on
arrival [in England], a mysterious illness had debilitated Darcus Bowden.
n
illness that no doctor could find any physical symptoms of, but which manifested
itself in the most incredible lethargy (31). Hortense and Clara s arrival in
England, then, is met with surprise and very little welcome. n fact, Hortense s
anger consumes her during her
joumey as
she and her daughter travel to a country
and a husband that do not appear to want them. Smith describes Hortense s anger
upon her arrival, an anger that she later transfers to her own daughter: In 1972,
emaged
by
a fourteen-year wait, Hortense decided finally to make the
joumey on
her own steam. Steam was something Hortense had in abundance. She arrived
on
the doorstep with the seventeen-year-old Clara, broke down the door in a fury and
.. .
gave Darcus Bowden the tongue-whipping
of
his life (31). Hortense and
Clara s unpleasant reception in England instills in Hortense a sense of hostility
towards the country, which she later projects onto Clara who decides to marry a
white British man (Archie). The estranged relationship between Hortense and
Clara contributes to Irie s own feelings of being unwanted. HOltense explains to
Irie her disapproval
of
Clara (on account of her marriage to Archie), saying:
Me
always like Archibald
.. .
Him was never my objection s such . But it more de
principle
of
de ting, you know? Black and white never come to no good.
De
Lord Jesus never meant us to mix it up (385). As a result,
on
hearing of [Clara
and Archie s malTiage], Hortense promptly ostracized her daughter one moming
on
the doorstep (46). Irie seems to intemalize the Bowden women s history
of
feeling ostracized. Irie s feeling of displacement, and her unfulfilled need to
belong,
is
easier to understand after one considers her re-memories.
h ie
is
represented
as
feeling unwanted and unsure
of
her self because
of
her
complicated family life and her status
as
a second-generation immigrant.
However, h ie s feelings
of
displacement have deeper roots than her own lifetime.
Arguably, Irie has a memory of her matemalline s history of abandonment.
Ide
begins to uncover these histories, which are central to her feelings
of
displacement and her memories
of
feeling unwanted, when she metaphorically
-
8/16/2019 At the Root of the Teeth- An Investigation of the Healing Power o
23/77
M.AThesis -
Watkins McMaster - English and Cultural Studies
bumps into the memory
of
her great grandfather, Charlie Durham (through
exposure to old pictures, letters and stories about him), while living with her
grandmother, Hortense. Her exposure to pictures and stories about her
grandfather engage her
in
a reconstruction
of
Ambrosia Bowden s struggle
to
carry her child to full term. Ambrosia s pregnancy was the result
of
one dnmken
evening in the Bowden larder, May 1906 when Charlie Durham, impregnated
his landlady s adolescent daughter (356). Although Charlie Durham did seem to
care for, maybe even love, Ambrosia (Smith describes Charlie s love as follows:
oh, he
ov s
her; just
as
the English loved India and Africa and Ireland; it
is
the
love that
is
the problem, people treat their lovers badly [361]), this love is not
entirely convincing; not surprisingly, Charlie eventually leaves Ambrosia when
she is five months pregnant: And then one afternoon, when Hortense was five
months unborn, Ambrosia sprinted up the stairs
She wanted to surprise her
lover with flowers she knew would remind him
of
home. She banged and banged
and called and called.
But
he was gone (357-8). Ambrosia ends up giving bitth
to Hortense during the 1907 Kingston earthquake, after narrowly escaping an
attempted rape, alone and amidst a devastating natural disaster: Any other
afternoon in Jamaica, the screams
of
Ambrosia, the screams that followed each
contraction
of
her womb
as
Hortense pushed out, would have caught somebody s
attention, brought somebody to her aid. But the world was ending that afternoon
in Kingston. Everybody was screaming (361). Ambrosia s isolation during the
birth
of Hortense undoubtedly had an effect on Hortense, who claims to
remember her time in her mother s womb. Hortense believes that information
was passed as
if by
osmosis into [her] soul before her own birth (359).
Specifically she feels that when her mother was pregnant with her and learned
about the Jehovah s Witnesses, she was also taking in the information
as
an
unborn child; she explains that it felt like a remembrance to read the six
volumes years later in adult life; why she could cover pages with her hand and
quote them from memory, though she had never read them before (359). Irie too
seems to remember celtain events that her mother and grandmother experienced
before her own birth. Irie s feeling like
a
stranger in a strange land
is
indicative
of
her mother and grandmother s unwelcoming experience
of
migration to
England (266). Hortense and Clara are seemingly forgotten about when
Hortense s husband, Darcus, leaves Jamaica to relocate to England, and remains
there for
foUlteen
years without sending home for his family. This type
of
exclusionary act helps explain why Irie has always felt unwelcome in England.
Hortense and Clara s memory
of
their unwelcoming reception in England, and
Ambrosia s abandonment
by
Charlie Durham, has clearly affected Irie s feeling
of
exclusion.
nanalysis of Irie s remembered diasporic experience is helpfUl in
shedding light upon her confused emotional and psychological states. When,
during a late night argument, Irie discovers that Clara s front teeth are fake, she
14
-
8/16/2019 At the Root of the Teeth- An Investigation of the Healing Power o
24/77
M.A Thesis - Watkins McMaster - English and Cultural Studies
considers this secret just one in a long list of uncertainties about her family s
roots:
To her, this was yet another item in a long list
of
parental hypocrisies and
untruths, this was another example of the JoneslBowden gift for secret
histories, stories you never got told, history you never entirely
uncovered, rumour you never umaveled, which would be fine if every day
was not littered with clues, and suggestions; shrapnel in Archie s leg ...
photo of strange white Grandpa Durham ... the name Ophelia and the
word madhouse These parents were full of information you wanted to
know but were too scared to hear. But she didn t want it any more. She
was tired
of
it. She was sick of never getting the whole truth. (379)
Irie s parents keep these secrets from their daughter because they are painful
memories
of
past experiences that they would rather forget. The shrapnel in
Archie s leg is a reminder that he did not kill Dr. Sick. (Dr. Sick is a Nazi
collaborator whom Samad and Archie capture with the help of a group of Russian
soldiers at the end
of
the Second World War. Once captured Archie and Samad
decided that they must kill Dr. Sick, but neither wants to take on this
responsibility; Archie eventually takes on the feat to prove to Samad that he
is
not
a cipher White Teeth 121) and that he does indeed stand for something.
Ultimately Archie fails to kill Dr. Sick and instead ends up being shot in the leg
by him). Archie s lie that he killed Dr. Sick that day is the basis of his friendship
with Samad. The photo ofGrandpa Durham reminds Clara of her grandmother s
struggle as a young pregnant woman abandoned by the father
of
her baby, and
of
the colonial presence
Jamaica that caused her family much strife, eventually
resulting in her emigration from the country. Archie s first maniage to Ophelia
is
also something
h
would rather forget. Ophelia eventually went mad (an obvious
allusion to Shakespeare s amletwith the added irony that Archie is quite the
opposite of Hamlet), and in tum Archie, finding his life uninspiring and
unbearable, attempted suicide. While these secrets are kept from Irie for a good
reason - to avoid the pain and guilt
of
remembering - the remains of the secrets,
the small clues that inevitably surface from time to time, alienate Irie who feels
like an outsider in her parent s lives.
After this argument Irie seems determined to understand her past, likely as
a way to understand her present through leaming where she came from, and
gathering information about the history
of
her family. The clues that Irie picks up
on in her parents dialogue pique her interest and also remind her of a shared past
of which she is inevitably a part. Jan Assman s article CollectiveMemory and
Cultural Identity
is
helpful in this assessment of Irie s conception of a shared
past with her parents. Assman explains that collective memory (which Halbwachs
engages with, as noted earlier in this chapter), is based on the principle that
[e]very individual memory constitutes itself in communication with others.
These others, however, are not just any set of people, rather they are groups
who conceive their unity and peculiarity through a common image of their past
-
8/16/2019 At the Root of the Teeth- An Investigation of the Healing Power o
25/77
M.A Thesis - Watkins McMaster - English and Cultural Studies
(127). Indeed Irie s past is entwined with her parents pasts and her desire to
learn this past stems not only from curiosity,
but
also from a desire to belong.
For
Irie, the need to belong stretches into her past s the secrets leave her feeling as
though she does not belong her own family s history, nor in her country s
history. Irie s feelings
of
instability in England are similar to her feelings of
marginalization within her family. Because of her second-generation immigrant
status, Irie s past differs significantly from the pasts of non-immigrant
communities in Britain. Irie s inability to belong in British culture is in part a
result of not being able to access the same common image (Assman 127) that
unites communities a collective memory
of
their pasts.
In an effort to become pmt of a community whose collective memory she
can access, Irie leaves home (after discovering her mother s false teeth) and goes
to stay with her estranged Grandmother, HOltense Bowden. HOltense s home s
laden with history; Irie seems comfortable instantly despite having been away
from Hortense for six years. h ie describes the house s unchanging,
or
stuck in
the past, saying: As far as the house was concemed, six seconds seemed to have
passed (382) and later remarks: that house was an dventure In cupboards and
neglected drawers and in grimy frames were the secrets that had been hoarded for
so long,
s if
secrets were going out
of
fashion (399). Irie s solace in
her
grandmother s house of memories and history is evident from the change in her
character after her stay with her Grandmother. Irie completely immerses herself
in her Grandmother s history. And for.the first time, Irie feels s though she
belongs somewhere. In one particular moment Irie seems to engage with the
memory of her white, English Grandfather s past, and finds that she can locate
herself there: And in the momings it wasn t Italianate vineyards out there any
more, it was sugar, sugar, sugar, and next door was nothing but tobacco and she
presumptuously fancied that the smell
of
plantain sent her back to somewhere,
somewhere quite fictional, for she d never been there (400). It is significant to
note that it is Irie s Jamaican roots that she ultimately lays claim to. Perhaps she
is drawn to her white ancestry here because she feels it will give her more
legitimacy in white mainstream British society. But ultimately she feels more at
home within her matrilineal heritage. Despite having never been there Irie s
experience
of
a collective memory places her in a past where she feels she
belongs. Irie reclaims herself through her remembered past:
She laid claim to the past - her version of the past - aggressively,
s if
retrieving misdirected mail. So
this
was where she came from. This all
belonged
to her, her birthright, like a pair of pearl earrings or a post office
bond .. . Irie
put
an X
on
everything she found .. . storing
them
under the
sofa, so that s if by osmosis the richness of them would pass through the
fabric while she was sleeping and seep right into her. (400)
It s exactly this sense of belonging that allows her to begin to envision her own
unified and recognizable self. In spite of the fact that mainstream, white Britain
still discriminates against her on the basis of her familial roots, here she boldly
16
-
8/16/2019 At the Root of the Teeth- An Investigation of the Healing Power o
26/77
M.A Thesis - A Watkins McMaster - English and Cultural Studies
claims her right to belong somewhere and defies those who attempt to cast her as
an outsider.
is clear in this passage that Irie is marking her place in history
with an
X
and beginning to consider this place a point-of-reference from
which she can work through her identity struggles and locate a place for herself in
British society. The
X
with which Irie marks her place symbolically represents
the
X
that many black people, in the 1950s and 60s, used to replace the
surnames which they considered to have been given to them
by
slave owners.
The
X
symbolized the lack
of
their inherited African surname. Malcolm X
famously rejected his surname Little in this way and thus resisted the collective
oppression
of
black people. The way that h ie lays claim to her past
by
marking it
with an X signals her emotional links to other black people trying to defy white
oppression. In this way Irie achieves subjectivity and begins to gain the
se f-
awareness and agency that she so desires.
Physical Separations and Emotional onnections The ase
Millat and
Magid
Igbal
Irie s subjective transformation can
be
read alongside the strange cultural
experiment of Mill at and Magid Iqbal. Wha t
is
important about Irie s
remembered experiences is that she has a sense of connectedness to her past, and
specifically to her maternal line. Millat and Magid experience similar feelings
of
marginality and inbetweenness because
of
their second-generation immigrant
status, and because of their parents difficult diasporic experiences; but their
cOlmectedness to each other is far stronger than their connections to their parents
pasts. Millat and Magid are separated from each other when they are only nine
years old due to their father s insistence that one
of
his sons he cannot afford to
send both) be raised in their motherland Bangladesh). Both boys grow up very
differently; Millat becomes popular in school especially with young women),
defiant to authority, and religiously confused in an increasingly secular England.
Magid, on the other hand, learns discipline in his studies and returns to England to
study law, and, much to his father s chagrin, does not practice the Muslim faith
but instead trusts in the laws
of
nature and science and joins Marcus Chalfen, a
prominent British scientist, in his FutureMouse project an experiment in the
treatment in cancer through a study
of
a mouse that will be displayed to the
public). Clearly the twins upbringings differ significantly, but they remain
closely connected on an emotional level despite their physical distance.
Smith s metaphor
of
the Russian dolls is important to remember here. For
if Millat and Magid are to locate their identities through a search backwards into
the past), they must first become important members
of
each other s lives again,
because, after all, they did share the same womb. The task
of
fitting back into
each other s lives is difficult because of the different paths each
boy
has traveled.
Millat grew up in England, while Magid spent his childhood in Bangladesh. This
separation saw each boy develop in very different ways, to the degree that, while
17
-
8/16/2019 At the Root of the Teeth- An Investigation of the Healing Power o
27/77
M.A Thesis -
Watkins McMaster - English and Cultural Studies
they remain somewhat connected because
of
their twin status, both become
unable to fully recognize themselves in the other.
an effort to avoid the 'corruption'
of
his sons in England, Samad Iqbal
decides to send one of them back to Bangladesh. Samad tells Archie: Archibald
weren't you listening to my dilemma? I am COlTIlpt my sons are becoming
COlTIlpt we are all soon to umin the fires of hell. These are problems of some
urgency (192). Samad is experiencing a desire for reversion, a concept that
Hershini Bhana Young discusses in her text Haunting apital Young explains
that according to Edouard Glissant (1989) [r]eversion is the obsession with a
single origin: one must not alter the absolute state of being. To revelt is to
consecrate permanence, to negate contact (Young 190). Young goes on to
explain that perhaps the lure
of
reversion lies in the (emotional) security that a
stable, absolute identity can provide, with its appearance of being 'natural,'
outside the rupturings of History (190). tis clear that Samad fears that his
children will lose crucial parts of their cultural identities when one considers his
outrage at Magid's desire to change his Bangladeshi name. Samad yells at Magid
saying: I GIVE YOU A GLORIOUS NAME LIKE MAGID MAHFOOZ
MURSHED MUBTASIM IQBAL ... AND YOU WANT TO BE CALLED
MARK SMITH (151). Samad certainly seems to want his children to locate
themselves in their Bangladeshi heritage, and, for financial reasons, he can only
provide this for one of his children. What Samad does not realize is that splitting
up his children so that Magid can obtain a 'natural' upbringing in Bangladesh will
be more detrimental to their development and their conceptions of themselves.
Samad does not realize that in order for his sons to become comfortable in their
respective positions in life, they must grow and leam together. Thus, by splitting
up Magid and Millat, Samad thwatts any chance for his sons to develop
meaningful experiences in either England or Bangladesh. However, Samad's
memory
of his own migration to England, and his racial memories (the memories
that have been passed on to Samad by means of the collective unconscious of his
cultural and social heritage) of India's struggles in England overpower, perhaps,
his patemal obligations. Samad's disappointment with England and its effect on
his children is clear when he expresses his own feelings of inbetweenness and
estrangement to Irie:
There are no words. The one I send home comes out a pukka Englishman,
white suited, silly wig lawyer. The one I keep here is fully paid-up green
bow-tie-wearing fundamentalist terrorist. I sometimes wonder why I
bother
I really do. These days, i t feels to me like you make a devil' s
pact when you walk into this country. You hand over your passport at the
check-in, you get stamped, you want to make a little money, get
yourself statted but you mean to go back Who would want to stay?
Cold, wet, miserable; terrible food, dreadful newspapers - who would
want to stay? In a place where you are never welcomed, only tolerated.
Just tolerated. Like you are an animal finally house trained ... it drags you
8
-
8/16/2019 At the Root of the Teeth- An Investigation of the Healing Power o
28/77
M.A Thesis - Watkins McMaster - English and Cultural Studies
in and suddenly you are unsuitable to return, your children are
unrecognizable, you belong nowhere. (407)
Samad s frustration and deep sadness is clear in the above passage. Just like Irie,
Millat and Magid, Samad too suffers from a feeling o being in the middle of
worlds. Samad not only feels
as
though he is only being tolerated in England, but
he also feels estranged from his sons with whomhe feels he is unable to form a
meaningful relationship. This inbetweenness
is
evident both at the level of his
immigrant status (causing him to feel as though he does not belong in his home
country or his adopted country) and at the familial level as his sons choices in
life leave him feeling
as
though he is stuck between two children whom he cannot
recognize as his own. In some ways it seems as though Samad is the one who
truly suffers from the separation of his children. In an effOlt
to
come to terms
with his fragmented identity, and adjust to his new life in England, he sends a
child back
to
Bangladesh. Clem ly, though, his feelings of marginality are only
heightened
as
his life progresses, and his separation from his sons, and their
separation from each other, adds to Samad s inability to feel as though he belongs
either in his country or in his family. His home country, adopted country and
family all become alien to him. This difficulty makes sense when one considers
that identity formation
is
closely linked with memory, specifically, collective
memory. Maurice Halbwachs s theories on memory can be read in an effort to
explain Samad s inability to locate his self in the absence of his children, who are
themselves distanced from each other. Halbwachs notes that the greatest number
o
memories come back to
us
when our parents, our friends, or other persons
recall them to us it is in society that people normally acquire their memories.
is also in society that they recall, recognize, and localize their memories (38).
While he
is
separated from his sons, and living in an unfamiliar country, it
is
not
surprising that Samad finds it difficult to locate and share his memories, and to
recognize a unified self. Samad even finds it difficult to find someone who will
appreciate his memories, such
as
the memory of his great-grandfather Mangal
Pande whose memory Samad must battle for White eeth250). Thus Samad
goes back and forth in his mind between Bangladesh and England, and between
his sons, in search of stability. Smith articulates this predicament of the
immigrant figure when she writes: immigrants have always been particularly
prone to repetition - it s something
to
do with that experience of moving from
West to East or East to West or from island to island. Even when you arrive,
you re still going back and forth; your children are going round and round
White eeth 161). This depiction o the inability to find stability and the
repercussions it has on the children of immigrants rings especially true for the
Iqbal family.
Indeed, over the course o their separation Magid and Millat grow into two
extraordinarily different men. After Magid s departure Samad begins to worship
him, describing him as invisible and perfect, frozen at the pleasant age o nine
[Magid] stood silent, distant and was presumed well, like one o Her Majesty s
-
8/16/2019 At the Root of the Teeth- An Investigation of the Healing Power o
29/77
M.A Thesis - A Watkins McMaster - English and Cultural Studies
colonial island outposts (216). The reference to Magid as a colonial island
outpost is a clear indication to the reader that any attempt for Magid to retum to
England will be compromised by the education
he
receives, in the form of his
upbringing, in Bangladesh. At the same time, Samad becomes ashamed of Millat:
t
is
best not to get Samad started up
on
that subject, the subject of The
Trouble withMillat bu t here goes
he
is the second son, late like a bus, late
like cheap postage, the slowcoach, the catch-up-kid, losing that first race
down the birth canal, and now simply a follower
by
genetic predisposition,
by the intricate design of Allah, the loser of two vital minutes that
he
would never make up
(216-17)
While Samad clearly grows more and more distant from his sons (physically
distant from Magid, and emotionally distant from Millat), the boys remain
curiously connected.
The
boys have obvious reasons to feel stuck between two
places. They are caught between their parents arguments over their separation,
they are caught between the two separate worlds that they live in, and they suffer
from feelings
of incompleteness due to their separation and simply their status as
twins. Bu t despite these challenges, the boys are able to maintain a strange sort of
connection that is indicative of the strength of familial bonds and relationships,
and the importance of the time they spent together both in their mother s womb
and throughout their childhood.
The similarities between the two boys are detailed in the text. Smith
describes how Millat and Magid are connected through their status as twins, and
how this contributes to their feelings
of
inbetweenness (which she calls
schizophrenic [219]). The following passage is particularly telling of the twins
relationship: .. , the fact was Millat didn t need to go back [to Bengal]: he stood
schizophrenic, one foot in Bengal and one inWillesden. his mind he was
as
much there as he was here. He did not require a passport to live in two places at
once, he needed no visa to live his brother s life and his own (he was a twin after
all) (219). Magid and Millat seem to have a memory of being connected that
they revelt to over and over again. While they have very little communication
while Magid is in Bangladesh, they still separately remember each other, and their
shared bilth, and thus have uncannily similar experiences. On a symbolic level,
the similarities
of
the twins experiences speak to the similarities in the British
and Indian cultures. White Teeth is in part a social commentary on the status of
multiculturalism in Britain, specifically, through characters like Magid and Millat,
who symbolically represent Bangladesh and England respectively. As such, it
mocks British society s marginalization of immigrants from countries like
Bangladesh
by
detailing the similarities in the lives of two separated brothers
growing up
in
either country. Their connection to each other can be read
alongside James Clifford s text Routes which studies the mticulation of home,
and the similarities between familial or familiar roots and any kind of
identification that can be sought
by
travel. Clifford writes: a location is
an itinerary rather than a bounded site - a series of encounters and translations
2
-
8/16/2019 At the Root of the Teeth- An Investigation of the Healing Power o
30/77
M.A Thesis - Watkins McMaster - English and Cultural Studies
(11). Thus the 'encounters and translations' that Magid and Millat experience in
their respective locations speak to the similarities between 'routes' and 'roots.'
Clifford believes that 'roots' are already constructed and provisional, and thus that
the various 'routes ' one travels do not disturb one's 'roots' because 'roots' are not
a 'bounded site. ' Clifford continues on to explain that he does not
accept that anyone is permanently fixed
by
his or her identity; but
neither can one shed specific structures
of
race and culture, class and
caste, gender and sexuality, environment and history. [He] understand[s]
these, and other cross-cutting determinations, not
as
homelands, chosen or
forced, but
as
sites of worldly travel: difficult encounters and occasions for
dialogue. (12)
When one considers that while one's familial roots are always part
of
one's sense
of self, often,
as
Clifford explains above and
as
Smith's characters prove, the
journey
or
route towards fullunderstanding of one's familial roots will always
be
connected and wrapped up in the roots one leaves behind.
Millat and Magid's twin connection, despite their separation, is first
apparent when they both break their noses around the same time. In a way, they
seem to be living similar lives, and it
is as
though their location
is
ilrelevant,
because wherever they are, theil' separate fates will occur simultaneously.
For
Millat and Magid, feelings of inbetweenness are not necessarily confined to
geographical boundaries since their main point
of
contention is not entil'ely about
their physical space; rather, it is about their emotional cOlmection. Millat breaks
his nose
as
a direct result of a conversation about Magid's broken nose. Upon
looking at a picture
of
Magid that
he
has sent home, Clara comments Oh Look
at his nose Look at the break.
He s
got a Roman nose, now. He looks like a
little aristocrat,
ilee
a little Englishman. Look, Millat .. to which Samad replies
he
will
be
a leader of tribes. He
is
a natural
chief
Millat laughed so loud at
this, so hard, so uncontrollably, that
he
lost his footing, slipped
on
a wash cloth
and broke his nose against the sink (216). While Alsana does not know all the
details of her sons connection, she does not seem particularly surprised by it
either:
Alsana only knew the incidentals: similar illnesses, simultaneous
accidents, pets dying continents apart. She did not know that while
Magid watched the 1985 cyclone shake things from high places, Millat
was pushing his luck along the towering wall
of
the cemetery in Fortune
green; that on 10 February 1988, as Magid worked his way through the
violent crowds of Dhaka, ducking random blows of those busy settling an
election with knives and fists, Millat held his own against three sotted,
furious, quick-footed Irishmen outside Biddy Mulligan's notorious
Killburn public house
on the 28
th
of April, 1989, a tornado whisked the
Chittagong kitchen up into the sky, taking everything with it except
Magid, left miraculously curled up in a ball
on
the floor. Now, segue to
Millat, five thousand miles away, lowering himself down upon legendary
-
8/16/2019 At the Root of the Teeth- An Investigation of the Healing Power o
31/77
M.A Thesis - Watkins McMaster - English and Cultural Studies
sixth-former Natalia Cavendish whose body is keeping a dark secret from
her); the condoms are unopened in a box in his back pocket; but somehow
he will not catch it; even though he is moving rhythmically now, up and
in, deeper and sideways, dancing with death. 220)
In this passage the blending of Indian and British cultures
s